All Fall Down
by BamboozledChickadee
Summary: It was supposed to be a training mission the day they found it. Just a look around after some suspicious activity in the area. Then it was supposed to be a simple "catch the baddies and go home" sort of thing. Then it wasn't. Or, why a simple training mission for the Team turned into a full League investigation in less than thirty minutes. Note: Major OC but no pairings.
1. Chapter 1

It was supposed to be a training mission the day they found it. Just a look around after some suspicious activity in the area.

Then it was supposed to be a simple "catch the baddies and go home" sort of thing.

Then it wasn't.

It was a large facility and, much like Cadmus, stayed mostly off the electrical grid. Something like that was easy to miss. Except that it shouldn't have been.

A simple training mission for the Team turned into a full League investigation in less than thirty minutes.

The scientists seemed to have fled days ago, leaving locked doors and sub-par lighting. All of this was rectified when Robin hacked in, long before any of the League was involved. But when the first door opened, it became too difficult an issue for the Team.

Hundreds of wire dog cages lined the walls, stacked on top of each other in threes.

Each and every one had a child in them.

They should have noticed, they would say later.

It took two hours and every available League member to free them. Most were injured in one way or another. Some were barely hanging onto life. All of them had scars. Treating them required sedation, as most of them panicked at the sight of them.

By the end of the first day, they counted three hundred malnourished children within that facility. By the end of the second, about half remained. By the third, all but one of those hundred and fifty children were relocated to a building ten miles down the road. The hope was to find their families and support them.

Except, the one who wasn't transferred was alive.

She was very much alive and _refused_ to move.

It was _supposed_ to be a training mission that first day. Easy.

Wally would have preferred a training mission over this.

"Hey-" Wally ducked under the projectile - _was that a knife?_ \- leveling his gaze with the girl crouched above him. "Would you stop that! I'm here to help!"

She'd managed to get on one of the swinging light fixtures five minutes after her initial release. In the chaos, they let her be unless she became an issue. Any attempt to get her down peacefully ended in violence and any effort to tranquilizer her failed. Out of the remaining children, she was both the oldest and the angriest. She couldn't have been younger than sixteen -most of the children were younger than ten- but she was definitely shorter than five feet. Probably weighed seventy pounds soaking wet with how malnourished she was. She looked normal, for the most part. Y'know, if you ignored the _glowing_ pink eyes and ragged facial scars. Her skin was dark enough that the dim lighting made it difficult to discern her features, though earlier one of the Leaguer members put a flashlight on her so they has a general idea. The other kids had seemed pretty human, but even if you ignored the eyes there was something _off_ about her. Her aim was certainly abnormal. He wasn't sure where she was getting all the projectiles from, but she seemed intent on attacking anyone who came close.

So, since Wally healed fast and would be better at dodging, he was voted to get her down. After all, he was a challenging target to hit.

Pity she seemed to like a challenge.

* * *

So! Prologue finished. Major OC but no OC x (insert team member here). No romantic relationships for the OC. Planned multi-chapter story. No main pairings but there are background relationships if you squint. I'm posting this initial chapter with the hope of reviews/follows.


	2. Chapter 2

He only dodged about five of the twenty various objects over the past two hours.

Another object flew at him, this time clocking him in the head. He glanced down at it.

 _It was one of the goddamned tranquilizer darts._

He'd been hit with the soft end and the dart still appeared full, so at least she wasn't trying to take him out. Just, well, keep him away.

"At some point you'll pass out," he mentioned, rolling the dart between his fingers. Could she dodge a dart thrown by a speedster?

"So will you."

The voice drifted down, scratchy and soft from disuse. She appeared less angry than before, fading into a worn expression.

"Why don't you come down and we can _both_ sleep?"

"No."

Wally was about ready to cry. It'd been a long three days and he was prepared to drop. He just wanted to go home. The only thing standing between him and his sweet, _sweet_ bed was a short, malnourished, questionably injured, possibly non-human teenager.

 _God_ , how did his life turn into this?

And why did they think _he_ , of all people, could manage to get her down?

She'd stopped looking at the dart in his hands moments ago and he took his chance. It sailed through the air in a blink of an eye, and she was falling from the light fixture almost as fast a moment later. The dart hadn't hit her, like all of the darts that'd been thrown at her in the past three days. But her balance must've been off from fatigue because she was falling.

Wally caught her, of course he did he's _Kid Flash_ , but she was out of his arms in seconds, a pencil in his shoulder. It hurt to pull out, but it left no splinters.

She ran, but he was faster. He made to move to touch her, but stood between her and the door. He studied her, noting that she was about as tall as he'd guessed, but her ribs showed more in the light. That fire in her eyes did nothing to disguise how weak she appeared.

"Just leave me alone. Please."

"Well, you can't exactly stay here."

"Tell me what I _can_ or _cannot_ do again and I'll break your arm."

Somehow, despite her appearance, he believed her entirely.

"Since I can't tell you what to do, can I ask you something instead?"

Her forehead creased, though one of the four long scars made it so it didn't quite crease all the way across. Funny thing to notice, but he'd never seen scars quite like that on someone's face. Only major facial scars he'd seen aside from hers was on Two-Face.

"I'm not stopping you."

"To start, what's your name?"

The question hung in the air for a tense moment, while she gazed at him tiredly.

"People call me Crystal."

"Got any family?"

He wouldn't deny that it was an interrogation, because that's what it was, in the end.

"No."

Her straight answer surprised him, with how she'd been dodging any questions pertaining personal information. Plus, despite her comment about it becoming an interrogation, she continued to answer. However, when he looked at her, he could see she was tired. Tired in general, perhaps. Secrets wear on people, he knew.

"Any friends?"

Another pause, but then, "I did."

Wally nodded slowly, or, at least, slow for him. "How long have you been here?"

"A while."

"How did they get you?"

"They wanted someone else. I made them an offer."

"You made a hard call."

Her shoulders fell, and it was then that he realized that she was completely tensed up until now. She spoke slowly and softly, refusing to meet his eyes, "I did what I had to do."

There was something there in her voice that sounded so familiar it hurt. It took him a moment, but then he remembered that time he'd met a former hero - one who had made a hard call and it cost him everything. Everything, that is, but his life and those he saved that day. She had the voice of a fallen hero. He could see now that she was a victim as much as the others, but the horrors she'd experienced, the ones that showed in her eyes, might not all be attributed to this place.

"I don't know everything you've been through, but it sounds like an impossible decision," he looked her square in the eye. "Most kids in your place would've made a different choice. I'm not entirely certain that I would make the same decision you did. I'm sure there's a few heroes out there that wouldn't."

Crystal pursed her lips, looking to the side. "Why haven't you just...carried me away by now?"

His turn, he guessed, for Twenty Questions. "You attacked me every time I tried."

"I mean after I ran out of weapons."

He didn't entirely trust that she was out of sharp objects to throw, but he'd go with it.

"I met you two days ago and have spent the last several hours with you, willing or not, and I never learned a thing about you. You looked like an interesting person to get to know."

Crystal smiled a bit, just a little quirk on one side, but still. That smile felt like a win.

"Got any family?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Any friends?"

"Room for more."

She fell silent for several minutes. But, eventually, she spoke again, "I'm tired, I think. You can take me if you want."

He really didn't like the reluctance that showed in her face. Nor did he like how old she appeared for being so young. But those were different things and he was exhausted.

"Will you stab me if I carry you?"

"Not this time."

Wally would give anything to see her smile again. She looked like she'd seen all the horrors of the world and no one deserved to be that broken. He picked her up slowly, making sure she wouldn't panic. It was a short run, between here and there.

Strangest thing was, she was asleep by the time they reached the shelter. He'd gone slow, true, but the trip took less than a full minute. At first, she seemed fine, just asleep.

Then, he noticed the blood.

* * *

 _I'm a sucker for cliffhangers, but leave a comment if you like it! I eat comments for fuel! Follow/Fav if you're shy!_


	3. Chapter 3

They didn't let Wally see Crystal, at first. Which was fine, he understood. It was going to be _fine_. They just needed the space to work.

Then, when minutes turned to hours and hours turned into days, he grew restless. They wouldn't tell him anything. Wouldn't let him see her, even after they had left the room. Guilt ate at him, and he ran his mind over his memories over and over. _How had he not noticed?_ He didn't even know how bad it was, just that there was too much blood for it to be anything other than serious.

He'd had to change his suit, after. Normal people might have wondered if it'd come out, but he _knew_ from experience that it wouldn't. He didn't sleep much, only when he couldn't stand to stay awake any longer.

So, that was how Robin found him, waiting outside Crystal's room eerily still from fatigue.

"You look pretty whelmed right now. Maybe even over," Robin commented, sliding into the seat next to him.

"Isn't everybody?"

His mouth didn't quite feel like his own. His mind was miles away, repeatedly going over one thought like some kind of broken record.

 _His fault, his fault, his fault-_

"It's not your fault, KF."

 _You a mind reader, Rob?_

He gave a half-hearted snort, "I should've noticed. Instead, I talked. I should've just picked her up and ran the moment she fell from the ceiling."

"You told me yesterday that she was pretty set on staying in the facility. You didn't know."

Wally hummed, but didn't say anything.

"There's something that doesn't add up about her injury though," Robin said. "It was three days after we found them, if she was injured then she would've bled out long before you tried to get her down."

"Maybe she was injured after," Wally mumbled.

"By who? There was at least a dozen people there at all times until we had everyone transferred, and even after there was always at least one person there. No one ever saw her leave that light fixture."

"Security cameras?"

"Destroyed and the tapes are long gone."

"Could she have been hurt up there?"

"Unlikely. We would have seen someone attack her and, in the event she hurt herself, I didn't see anything up there that could do that."

"Where did she get the projectiles?"

"What projectiles?"

Wally ignored him. "And why was she so stubborn about leaving?"

"I don't know-"

"What if we weren't alone in the facility?"

"Someone would've noticed."

"No one noticed Crystal until the second day. Then, after we noticed her, we didn't even try to get her down until we began the transfer. If we didn't notice a girl sitting up in the ceiling, how can we be absolutely sure she was alone up there?"

Robin's eyes narrowed, assumedly thinking about the prospect. Whatever he thought about the subject, however, no longer remained a concern when a crash sounded from inside Crystal's room.

Wally was inside the room within a millisecond, blood roaring in his ears.

 _Danger, danger, danger-_

Time was already slowed for him, everything moving as if stuck in a bowl of clear Jell-O. But in that moment, the room seemed frozen instead. Crystal lay on the cot that they'd rigged up, forearm blocking a dark shadowy creature by its neck. Wally expected her to look scared - the standard damsel in distress. He should've figured she'd just look absolutely pissed.

Time sped up, and that shadow began to move, the only clear part of it - its mouth - gnashing at her face with long white teeth. It took scarcely any time at all to dash over and attempt to get the creature off. Looked easy, too. But, y'know, Wally didn't exactly know that this monster wasn't entirely tangible. His fingers slipped into where the thing's flesh should've been and then, seconds later, it froze. He spared a second to glance at Crystal, noting that the anger had been replaced by fear.

He may not have known her for long, but the message was clear: _Run_.

So, he did.

Except, well, the shadow was faster.

Then, someone was screaming. He didn't know it was him, at first. Poison burned like fire in his veins as the sharp needle-like teeth dug into his shoulder.

People were yelling. Others were crying. He didn't care.

"Don't shoot!" someone yelled.

Was someone aiming at him? He couldn't tell, his vision was nothing but pinpricks of light in the darkness like a sky full of stars.

"C'mon. You wanted me dead, right? Get it over with and you can eat whoever you damn well please."

Same voice, he thought. Crystal?

Then, the pressure was gone.

He couldn't tell you what happened after that. All he knew was that _thing_ wanted Crystal dead.

And he was utterly helpless to stop it as the world simply fell from beneath his feet.

* * *

Another chapter done! Next will be in Crystal's POV (probably a rare thing I like having this in Wally's POV for the most part). I eat comments, so please feed me. If you're shy, a fav or follow serve as good snacks.

Until next time,

R.A.N.


	4. Chapter 4

There was exactly three things of which Crystal was absolutely certain.

One, most people wanted her dead, including a certain shadow creature she called a Wraith.

Two, she was completely unprepared to fight a Wraith.

Three, it could absolutely be worse.

The Wraith's eyes looked onto hers, blood dripping from its mouth. A normal person would be petrified, frozen as it plunges them into their darkest nightmares. Eye contact from a Wraith was deadly, even though the creatures themselves were only imprints of far more powerful monsters. If it was one of them, she'd have been five feet under by now. But, by some miracle, it was just a Wraith. An imprint, a husk, a _shadow_ of a monster no single person could hope to defeat.

Crystal's arm bled from where the IV was ripped out, and she wasn't too sure that her stitches hadn't ripped. The League didn't move, those who did received a quick glare from her. Anything could set it off. Kid Flash was a concern - Wraiths never let prey get away once they taste blood - he was far, far too close. However, all that seemed distant. Staring in the eyes of death felt so much like _home_ her chest felt tight.

 _Just like old times._

It'd been so long, though, and it didn't feel quite like it used to. Like when you try on your old favorite jacket and it's just a little too small. The sleeves are slightly too short and the shoulder area feels tighter than it used to, but wearing it isn't entirely out off the table.

The metal pole from the IV felt cold in her hands and far heavier than it should've been. She remembers how to fight, but it feels like something she saw in a movie instead of something she'd done. In those fights, she'd been angry. Bitter about the cards she'd been dealt, so damn stubborn to prove everyone wrong that she'd proven them _right_. Now, she was just tired, bitterness shoved to some forgotten corner of her mind.

Her grip tightened on the pole until her knuckles hurt. People always used to say she was going to die fighting. She'd always told them that that was the plan. They would then call her an idiot.

 _Time to be the idiot._

That was when she ran.

Que the Wraith screeching in shock as she sprinted _toward_ the thing.

Its momentary surprise gave her some breathing room, but the metaphorical noose still hung around her neck. It swiped at her, but she slid under it like a baseball player sliding into home. Difficult, considering she was holding a pole taller than her. She then stood between the creature and Kid Flash, her back foot settling an inch from his back.

 _Too close._

She remembered the last time some she cared about was too close to a monster, one far more fearsome than a Wraith. He died because she failed. This wasn't going to be a repeat.

"They are under my protection."

Its ghost-like tail twitched, so she said it again in ancient demon dialect. It sounded like a cross between a snore and a blender, a short phrase that roughly translated to "mine." Claims on people were serious in demon culture. It wouldn't protect her, but they would be safe for the rest of her life from the Wraith, no matter how short that life may be. However, this would only work if this thing had a brain left.

Its jaw made a strange crackling noise, and Crystal had the pole up before it managed to snap at her. She'd done it horizontally, the pole now cut into thirds, one of which had disappeared into the Wraith's maw.

"Get ready!" Crystal demanded, hurdling Kid Flash's unconscious body to make a mad dash for absolutely _anywhere else_. Preferably somewhere clear of people. She prayed that the League would listen to her.

It was fast enough to catch a speedster, and undoubtedly fast enough to catch _her_ , but she'd rather no one else get hurt. She managed to get halfway across the warehouse before it got anywhere near her - it was playing with its food.

"Now!"

She expected to be shot at. What she _didn't_ expect was for some kid wearing a Superman shirt to push her out of the way and shield her with his body. Various things flew at the Wraith, most annoyances at best. Then, an explosive knocked it to the ground. It flickered, wailing in pain. After a moment, it stilled, turning to look at Crystal. The League probably thought it'd attack, but it left with a shriek.

 _It'll be back_.

All eyes turned to her. She probably looked like hell, but she felt better than she had in years. A simple enemy to fight - one that didn't haunt her nightmares - made it seem like old times.

"You okay?"

The boy had the clearest blue eyes she'd seen in a while. It struck her how young he looked, how innocent. He couldn't have been younger than sixteen, less than two years younger than her. Yet, the gap felt so much greater.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"'Fine' is relative. I've been worse."

She looked past him, where the Leaguers were looking Kid Flash over.

"Is he going to live?" she asked.

"He's a speedster, he'll be up and complaining within the hour," Robin replied.

Crystal knew most of the League and their associates by reputation, from the little bits of news she used to receive from the outside world. Stories like that made them seem far bigger and greater than they were. Humans becoming gods in the eyes of the people they'd saved. Heroes were only heroes if the population saw them as such. She'd grown up in a world without heroes, with certainty that even if there _were_ such things, they wouldn't bother saving her. Seeing them there, she could finally see what the others saw. She wondered why anyone ever dared proclaim her a hero when people like them existed.

The League members said other things, asked questions where necessary. She answered a couple, but fell silent as they continued. Eventually, she was back on a cot, with Kid Flash sleeping soundly in the cot beside her. Robin came in and out, but she ignored him.

He could have died tonight.

She could have, too.

She would have, if it was between the two of them.

Kid Flash woke several hours later, strangely coherent despite his previously comatose state. Robin chatted with him for a few minutes before allowing them to talk in private.

"Why didn't you tell us about the shadow?" he asked.

"Because it wanted something to eat," she answered quietly. "I thought I could…"

 _I thought I could kill it._

"It could have killed you."

"Hazard of the job."

"We could have helped-"

"Then you would be dead and that would be on me."

 _It's my job._

 _I've failed too many times._

 _I couldn't fail again._

"If you had died that would be on me."

Their eyes met, and Crystal realized that, maybe, they weren't so different.

"We're both self-sacrificing idiots aren't we?"

The rest of the night was filled by Kid Flash endlessly chattering about irrelevant things. It helped, in a way. But guilt began working its way into her stomach.

 _Don't let them see the damage._

* * *

 **I was so happy about the comments I couldn't bear not writing! Hope you liked it, sorry about the little cliffhanger at the end there (No I'm not). Did ya catch the Doctor Who reference? I didn't intentionally do it, things happened.**

 **As always, I'm hungry. Comments are delicious, and they help me write faster.**

 **Until Next Time,**

 **R.A.N.**


	5. Chapter 5

Crystal didn't sleep that night. Or the night after, or the night after that one.

It worried Wally.

He understood trauma, albet in lesser forms. He knew that it could cause some restless nights. She was sick though, and getting better required rest. He didn't know what he'd do if she got worse.

 _I didn't notice._

He wondered if she would have been better off if he'd seen the wound sooner. But he didn't have much time for wondering about what might've been. The League was taking shifts getting the kids home. He'd spend a few hours there after school, essentially babysitting a portion of the kids while the older heroes conversed with the guardians of said children. Between that, school, homework, eating, and sleeping he only got an hour with Crystal on weekdays. She didn't talk much, but often asked about the other kids. Not once did she mention any of their names. Wally entertained the idea that maybe she didn't know any of them.

Something was bothering her, he knew. He could see it. In fact, he could almost _feel_ how uneasy she was. It was nearly a week after the shadow attacked her when she left the room for the first time. It was also the same day they couldn't find her for _hours_.

Which was stupid, because they found her in the rafters. Later, he was sure, they would laugh and say it was a great story. Now, they just felt like idiots.

"Y'know, the ceiling isn't exactly where people typically reside," Wally commented, peering down below. This ceiling was _much_ higher than the one at the facility. "Except for maybe Robin."

"I like being able to see everyone."

She didn't look at him, nor did she appear particularly startled by his arrival. Probably watched him struggle to get up. But even facing away, it was easy to see the bags under her eyes.

"How much sleep have you had the past week?"

"How many kids are left?"

"You can't dodge my questions, Crystal. I'm just concerned."

"Quid quo pro. You answer mine I'll answer yours."

"Fine, uh," Wally searched his mind for the number. "Less than twenty are left, I think."

"I've had enough sleep to function. These kids aren't safe."

"We have people around the clock-"

"We've been over this. Just drop it," Crystal muttered. "You wouldn't get it."

Wally didn't like how sad she appeared. But she never did tell him what was wrong. She continued to randomly disappear into the rafters everyday until the last child walked out of the warehouse. Now she just wandered the halls like a ghost. It'd been three weeks since they found the facility, but they still knew next to nothing about Crystal. She wouldn't let them, closing off the moment someone tried to figure her out. The only one who could actually get answers from her was him. He figured it was probably because he happened to be the one who was selected to get her down, but the way she looked at him made him wonder.

"Where did you live, before all this?"

He'd asked this question before, but she'd always find a way to get out of it.

"Doesn't matter. It's gone."

Sketchy answer, certainly. It honestly brought more questions than answers.

"Okay, fine. Who did you live with?"

"No one."

"You can't stay here forever, Crystal."

"I also can't go home. What do you propose I do, Kid? I'm not human and, even if we were to ignore that, no one would _dare_ take in someone as damaged as me."

"I would."

He didn't deny that she was damaged because that would be a lie. A flawed world creates damaged people. Damaged people, who, in his experience, tend to be better than their counterparts.

He didn't know if he'd accidentally slowed his perception of time or if Crystal was sitting completely still, but if the world fell apart he wouldn't have noticed. There, in the depths of her eyes, lay some sort of realization. Her perpetually hard facial expression softened.

"Kid, you hardly know me. You don't know what I've been through or what I've done."

"Maybe someday you'll tell me. Or maybe you won't, and that's fine. We all have our secrets."

"When we met," Crystal stared at him from the corner of her eye, "you reminded me of someone. His name was Danny."

 _Was_.

Wally wondered how many friends she'd lost. But he sensed she had more to say, so, for once in his life, he remained quiet. She wasn't looking at him anymore, notably deep in thought.

"He was my best friend, the closest thing I had to family. He was there for me no matter what I did in a time where _everyone_ thought I was a traitor. When I lost him I-"

Her breath caught, but she continued, "I felt like I had died too. I should have. I was the reason he was there and he _died_. People around me die, Kid Flash. You still sure you want to take me in?"

"Positive."

He would've hugged her, laid a hand on her shoulder, or held her hand because in a normal situation that would feel _right_. But she'd been through so much and he _knew_ that was something she didn't like. She'd never shared any names with him, or any details of her past for that matter. He wondered what had happened, if she had really been at fault or if she was blaming herself for something that she shouldn't. Either way, he'd be there. They may not have known each other long, but he knew she was something special.

Wally left shortly after that. Duties to attend to and all that. It was well known that the League was going to vacate the building, but nothing on Crystal's status had been revealed to them. She was eighteen, but without any ground to stand on. No home, family, money, or education to speak of put her in a bad position. She'd be put in a group home or left to fend for herself in normal circumstances. Her eyes broke any illusion that she was human, so it was difficult to figure out what to do with her. In the end, he hoped she'd be offered a place at the mountain.

Exactly five hours after he left her at the warehouse, his hopes came true and she was in a car heading for the mountain.

He knew, then, that she'd be okay. She'd have him. She'd have the team.

For the first time in a while, she'd be okay.

He would make sure of it.

* * *

 **And finally we reach a point where I can start episodes! I plan on having S1E9 Bereft as a chapter (it's gonna be great, I promise). Next few chapters will take place before that, but I don't know for sure yet what other episodes I may or may not include.**

 **As always, I'm small and hungry for comments. Or kudos, kudos work too. I work faster with a comment or two. Let me know what you think, what you love, what you hate. If you want to see something, suggest it! Perhaps I can fit it in.**

 **Until next time,**

 **R.A.N.**


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